Health Care Systems

Want to lose weight?

This will make your new year’s resolution possible…normally and naturally.

When a person with a weight problem comes to me for help, I immediately tell them that I am not interested in weight loss. Well, that gets a reaction because obviously, a person with a weight problem wants to lose weight. But I say it with a reason.

Anyone can lose weight. You could have abdominal bypass surgery and lose weight. You could go on a fancy diet (there are a million of them) and lose weight. I could lock you in a room for a month and not feed you and you would lose weight. The idea is to take it off and leave it off. Hypnotherapy is the answer because it deals with the subconscious directly. This is where the problem exists.

To deal with the problem on a conscious level is difficult, if not, impossible. It is a subconscious problem. Anyone who eats more than he should or the things he shouldn’t, does so for emotional reasons.

He eats because he’s bored, frustrated because he gained weight, because he lost weight, to reward himself, because it’s the weekend, because others are eating. One hundred and one reasons other than what nature intended. Nature intended for us to eat to sustain our bodies. When we do it to a point where we make ourselves unhappy or even unhealthy, it is because we have a subconscious need to do it. Any irrational, compulsive, habitual, self-destructive behavior is subconscious in nature. The reason hypnotherapy is so effective is because it deal with the problem where it exists.

How did this problem get there?

When you were an infant in the crib and you cried, what happened? Some one picked you up, made you physically comfortable, changed your diaper, made you feel loved and wanted and secure. All the things an infant must experience. And you were fed. You received an oral gratification in response to your emotional and physical need. It didn’t happen once. Over and over again. And many times you were fed when you weren’t hungry. You might have been awakened to be fed. You might have been bored. You might have had a pain. What ever the reason you cried, the implication was, she’s crying, she’s hungry, feed her. In our society every Mother has to have a chubby baby. A chubby baby is a happy, healthy baby. “My baby is only six weeks old and she weighs so much!” There’s almost a competition that exists. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s an expression of love and concern on the part of the Mother. She wants the child to prosper. But it sets up this subconscious conditioning pattern.

How often is this oral gratification used for convenience? I tell about a Mother I saw in church. She was holding this infant and he was crying. He was letting everyone in that church know he was unhappy. She didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to disturb everyone. She couldn’t change his diaper or walk up and down with him. Next best thing? Pacifier. What better word for it? She began poking it into the child’s mouth. He started turning his head back and forth. You’ve seen a baby do that. It was as if to say, “Mom, that’s not the problem.” She persisted. He started sucking on it. He went to sleep. There it is.. He was being programmed subconsciously that this oral gratification solved his problem. No matter what it was.

Later on, we start getting rewarded with food. “You’re a good girl. Here’s a cookie.” I would go to the barber and he would say, “Hold your head still and I’ll give you a lollypop.” How often does a child walk out of a doctor’s office, a neighbor’s house with a candy or cookie because he was good. Now when we get older we don’t need someone to do it for us. We do it ourselves. “I worked hard today. It’s the weekend. I lost five pounds.” Listen to the advertising. “You deserve a break today.” “For all you do this Bud’s for you.” Reward yourself.

How about holidays? Happy times. Family all together. No school. Name a holiday that isn’t food oriented. Halloween with the shopping bag. Thanksgiving, you are supposed to eat till you burst, Christmas with the cookies, Easter with the bunny. Fourth of July with the picnic. How could you have a birthday party for a child without ice cream, candy, cake and soda?

So we all grow up into our adulthood having been programmed subconsciously that an oral gratification can get rid of stress, reward ourselves, eliminate pain, loneliness, frustration, sorrow and so on.

Now, as a thinking person, you might ask… “Well, if that’s the case, Carl, why doesn’t everyone have a weight problem? How come some do, some don’t, some more than others?”

There are a lot of reasons.

First of all, we were not all conditioned in the same way. A great deal had to do with the household we came from. For instance, a Mother who solves her boredom with food will not give a bored child a pencil and paper. She will give her a cookie. A Mother who solves her pain with food, child falls down and hurts her knee, she gives her a piece of candy. Not intentionally mind you. But we tend to perpetuate our behavior. Often we see it go from one generation to another.

How about ethnicity? If you happen to be born Italian, fuggetaboutit…you have three strikes against you from the beginning. Food is so important. And what kind of food? Pasta and pastries and mountainous portions.

How about the fact that people express this need for an oral gratification in different ways. Sure some people eat to excess. Some people bite their fingernails, chew on a pencil even suck their thumbs.

Some people smoke cigarettes. Smoking is an oral gratification. They smoke if they’re bored, angry, frustrated, under stress, to reward themselves.. good old-fashioned coffee break. What happens when they stop smoking? They just transfer one oral gratification for another. Instead of a cigarette, life savers, cough drops, chewing gum, toothpicks. Anything to put out the fire. Ever watch a man smoke a pipe of a cigar? Half the time it is not even lit. Just something to put into his mouth.

Drinking is an oral action. We have to suck the liquid into our mouths. That’s why a child loves a straw. You seldom see people drink beer, soda or even water out of a glass any more. It’s a can or bottle. Note how some bottles have a nipple like cap.

And finally, any one who has lived any length of time knows that the emotional state we are in will determine how much we eat, drink, smoke or bite our fingernails. Someone in the midst of a horrendous divorce or a widow who is lonesome, people under stress will use these oral mechanisms to help them cope with the emotions they are experiencing.

So, what are we going to do about it?

The Hypnotherapist, using this thing called Hypnosis and using post Hypnotic suggestions to the subconscious mind, (where the problem exists), will break this negative conditioning experience. Erase it if you will. And just as it was put there by repetition he will take it away. Now, he can put some positive suggestions there. Things like will power, self-control, confidence, self-esteem, liking oneself better. Persons fighting a weight problem and losing don’t like themselves. They don’t like the way they feel, the way they look, the way their clothes fit them, what they see in a mirror. The trouble is the less they like themselves, the more they indulge. A vicious negative experience. What I can do is reverse that circle. Because you are more in control you like yourself better… the way you are feeling, … the way you look… the compliments you may be getting. And because you like yourself better, you are more in control. I simply reverse the circle. Why not? If you can go in one direction, you can go in another.

Then I can put some more good positive suggestions into your subconscious. Remember when we were children we were told that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. As adults our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. We are much too ambitious with food. That’s why psychologists tell us to never shop when we are hungry. We buy all the wrong things and too much of them. Watch people at a buffet table. They are hungry. It is so convenient. It is a wonder they don’t get a hernia carrying it back to the table. We tend to cook more than we need. At home we pile it on. Now it is on our plate, we have to eat it. You don’t waste food. (People are dying of hunger somewhere in the world..remember?). I put suggestions into your subconscious telling you not to be so ambitious. Take one scoop of potatoes. You can always go back for more. That’s where I separate from what most people are used to when they come to me. This is not deprivation. It is control. I bring to their consciousness what they are about to do and give them the power to make the decision that they know will be in their best interest.

Most people who eat too quickly, eat too much. They sabotage a very important function. Nature gave us taste buds and a chewing need. They have two functions. One is to turn us on to food. Make it more palatable. The other is to turn us off when we have had enough. All of our senses have what psychologists describe as a satiating point. It is Mother nature’s way of keeping us from over indulging. The problem is that when we eat too fast we bi-pass it. So that we are full, but still hungry. More inclined to eat more.

Here is the suggestive process that solves both these problems:

Each and every time you eat a meal you will sit down. You will take small portions of food on your plate. You will place small portions of food into your mouth. You will chew your food slowly enjoying the taste, the feeling of the food in your mouth totally and completely before you swallow. You will get more filling satisfaction from less food. You will eat less and be satisfied.